Pacers' Jermaine O'Neal is not surprised by Dale Davis' playing-time frustration in Portland. "It's almost like he's picked up my situation," O'Neal said. "I don't understand what they could have told him about minutes. Rasheed (Wallace) is going to play a ton of minutes, (Arvydas) Sabonis is going to play his minutes. Where are the minutes? Between him and Shawn (Kemp), who's going to play where?"
Sacramento guard Jason Williams, to a heckler in Dallas: "You're here to see me. And your son wants to be me."
Pistons are planning to enter the Chris Webber free-agent derby this summer.
Asked his feelings about being traded from the Grizzlies to the Knicks, Othella Harrington smiled and said, "It's my birthday tomorrow, so it's kinda like an early birthday present."
Minnesota's Kevin Garnett continues to raise eyebrows with his suddenly surly attitude. Garnett's latest target was Bucks rookie Joel Przybilla, of whom he said, "I hate a fake thug, know what I mean? Just come in and play, man. No sense you yapping about nothing, know what I mean?" Przybilla had no idea what he meant.
Bucks coach George Karl said, "I think Garnett needs to settle down and work on his image. He seems a little hyper these days." A little? He acts like he's taken cranky lessons from Karl Malone.
Speaking of Garnett sounding eerily like Malone, the younger forward said this about a Minnesota win streak: "It's like a hit man: You can't spray the whole crowd, you've got to take 'em out one at a time."
Detroit's Joe Smith said negative rumors about the Bulls organization are making the rounds among players, especially free agents. "It is kind of circulating," he said. "It does play a factor in decision-making . . . I don't know how much (Chicago is) committed to winning."
Grizz boss Dick Versace on how Vancouverites have not done their part for the team: "What was the community response to Mike (Heisley) coming in and saving this team? Not one extra suite was sold. Not one business stepped up and bought a sponsorship. Not one. This is when we were 4-1 to start the season. Season-ticket sales are worse than they were last year."
Sixers president Pat Croce says Dallas owner Mark Cuban is fighting a war he can't win. "I don't think that Mark understands that when you screw with fire you get burned," Croce said. "(Commissioner) David Stern has put too much into this league to make it the best, and there's no way he's going to let one person destroy it."
Bulls coach Tim Floyd recently told Ron Artest that headbands were for soft players. He apparently wasn't kidding. Floyd and GM Jerry Krause reportedly grilled Darius Miles about his cornrows in a pre-draft interview.
Nets coach Byron Scott said his team would be "pretty much done" if it went 0-5 on a West Coast road trip, so naturally that's what they did, losing those games by an average margin of 16 points. After one dismal second-half performance, he said, "The only thing I can think of is maybe bringing a doctor in to surgically put some heart into them."
Nets GM Rod Thorn says he'll listen to offers for anyone on the team, and that includes Stephon Marbury and Keith Van Horn.
"We're all screwed up," forward Rick Fox says of the Lakers' struggles. "Phil (Jackson) warned us that it wasn't going to be easy. But were we expecting this? No."
Said another, anonymous Laker, of Kobe Bryant's greed explosion this season, "We're all like, 'What's he thinking about? It's not like we didn't win the title last season. Doesn't he know how he got his ring? No one expected this."
The Indianapolis Star somehow came up with these numbers: 157 of the 427 players on rosters this season have visible tattoos.
Nuggets assistant coach John Lucas says it's no surprise that point guards are scorers more than playmakers nowadays. "Owners are fans, too," he said. "You look at the stat sheet and see nine points and 10 assists from your point guard. He's the glue of the team, but the owner looks at points. People pay for points."
Celtics are enjoying Jim O'Brien's coaching style after the bailout of Rick Pitino. "Coach O'Brien is calmer," guard Paul Pierce said. "Guys are looser and not afraid to make mistakes."
Charles Oakley's explanation for why his services will always be needed: "When you've got an old car and a new car and they collide, the new car is going to tear up more than the old car — and that's why I'm still around."
Magic center Michael Doleac has fouled out seven times this season, despite averaging just 20 minutes per game because coach Doc Rivers has ordered his big guys to make drivers pay. "No more free passes," Rivers said. "We don't want guys waltzing down the lane against us anymore."
Complied by Rich Evans from Internet and wire service reports.